David A J Richards is Edwin D Webb Professor of Law at New York University, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and (with Carol Gilligan) a course entitled 'Sexuality, Voice, and Resistance: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Neurobiology, and Politics'.

"This brilliant, original book illuminates how the reigning conception of manhood ineluctably leads to tragedy. In Verdi's operas, Richards finds a parallel to Greek tragedy - a musical art, honed at a moment of historical transition, that reveals the irreconcilable antagonism between patriarchy and democracy. He explains why Verdi's operas move us so powerfully, and shows us how Verdi's music dramas give expression to a voice that is psychologically and politically vital. This is creative scholarship at its best, a book written at a place where disciplines intersect. Illustrating how Verdi's operas illuminate tragic breaks in human relationships, the author also shows how a personal and political psychology elucidates Verdi's genius. For opera lovers, this book is a gift; to novices it extends an invitation to discover in music drama a way of hearing the underworld' and thus coming to understand emotions and experiences that we resist knowing." -- University Professor, New York University, and author of In a Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure

• Contents: The idea of tragedy and the dilemma of democratic manhood: Verdi's analytics of traumatised voice under patriarchy; Tragic art: patriarchy in ancient Athens and Verdi's Italy; Music as the memory of suppressed voice in Verdi's mature operas; Verdi and Italian nationalism; Parents and children; Siblings; Lovers; Tragedy as the dilemma of democratic manhood; Between Patriarchal and Democratic Manhood.

David A J Richards is Edwin D Webb Professor of Law at New York University, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and (with Carol Gilligan) a course entitled 'Sexuality, Voice, and Resistance: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Neurobiology, and Politics'.

"This brilliant, original book illuminates how the reigning conception of manhood ineluctably leads to tragedy. In Verdi's operas, Richards finds a parallel to Greek tragedy - a musical art, honed at a moment of historical transition, that reveals the irreconcilable antagonism between patriarchy and democracy. He explains why Verdi's operas move us so powerfully, and shows us how Verdi's music dramas give expression to a voice that is psychologically and politically vital. This is creative scholarship at its best, a book written at a place where disciplines intersect. Illustrating how Verdi's operas illuminate tragic breaks in human relationships, the author also shows how a personal and political psychology elucidates Verdi's genius. For opera lovers, this book is a gift; to novices it extends an invitation to discover in music drama a way of hearing the underworld' and thus coming to understand emotions and experiences that we resist knowing." -- University Professor, New York University, and author of In a Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure

• Contents: The idea of tragedy and the dilemma of democratic manhood: Verdi's analytics of traumatised voice under patriarchy; Tragic art: patriarchy in ancient Athens and Verdi's Italy; Music as the memory of suppressed voice in Verdi's mature operas; Verdi and Italian nationalism; Parents and children; Siblings; Lovers; Tragedy as the dilemma of democratic manhood; Between Patriarchal and Democratic Manhood.

David A J Richards is Edwin D Webb Professor of Law at New York University, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and (with Carol Gilligan) a course entitled 'Sexuality, Voice, and Resistance: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Neurobiology, and Politics'.

"This brilliant, original book illuminates how the reigning conception of manhood ineluctably leads to tragedy. In Verdi's operas, Richards finds a parallel to Greek tragedy - a musical art, honed at a moment of historical transition, that reveals the irreconcilable antagonism between patriarchy and democracy. He explains why Verdi's operas move us so powerfully, and shows us how Verdi's music dramas give expression to a voice that is psychologically and politically vital. This is creative scholarship at its best, a book written at a place where disciplines intersect. Illustrating how Verdi's operas illuminate tragic breaks in human relationships, the author also shows how a personal and political psychology elucidates Verdi's genius. For opera lovers, this book is a gift; to novices it extends an invitation to discover in music drama a way of hearing the underworld' and thus coming to understand emotions and experiences that we resist knowing." -- University Professor, New York University, and author of In a Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure

• Contents: The idea of tragedy and the dilemma of democratic manhood: Verdi's analytics of traumatised voice under patriarchy; Tragic art: patriarchy in ancient Athens and Verdi's Italy; Music as the memory of suppressed voice in Verdi's mature operas; Verdi and Italian nationalism; Parents and children; Siblings; Lovers; Tragedy as the dilemma of democratic manhood; Between Patriarchal and Democratic Manhood.